If I had to choose one place that I look forward to eating in Bangalore, it will probably be Smoke House Deli. Located on the beautiful Indra Nagar 100 feet road with a black and white with red accents theme, this place has continental food that connects. This time around we were a big bunch and while it gives you the opportunity to taste a lot of dishes, it also means that not everybody will wait till you take photos. Some of them will make sure you don't. Keep them in mind when I get invited for a food festival next time! EVIL GRIN!

Three dishes stood out that night. One for being bad and two for being extremely good. The others were on par with Smoke House Deli's standards. We skipped starters and went straight into ordering a main course each.

The smoked chicken risotto, the first to arrive was the super hit. While it wasn't the perfect al-dente, it had supremely subtle flavours that was enjoyed by one and all! My dish, the chicken roulade penne was the other excellent dish. This one with a slightly, but nicely overpowering garlic with excellent red sauce and a fantastic chicken was a stand out. The other penne, a vegetarian version was supremely bad! The sauce was flavourless and the eater almost begged the rest of the table to help her finish it!!! The peri peri chicken along with the lamb shanks were the next best, but I got to eat only one spoon of them all!

When in Smoke House Deli, you need to leave space for dessert, even if that means skipping appetisers. We shared five desserts and each and every one of them was excellent. The chocolate tart with a tiny hint of peanut butter, creme brûlée, the awesome hazelnut bar, the panna cotta and cheesecake were all licked clean.

Being a big bunch, our bill was Rs. 6600 for 9 main courses and 5 dessert!!! This is like comfort continental food that is rarely off the mark!!! 

"Wel gome to Vella Maaya," she said with the classic Kerala accent. The guy smiled with a 'first time?' coming right out of him. My eyes were all inside. The courtyard was magical. A place like this could be magical at night, but in broad daylight? It was magical then too. I was walked straight into the lobby space with two nice large sofas and loungers on either side of the entry. The wooden staircase that leads to somewhere equally magical, I suppose, was a treat for the eyes.

The property was still sinking into me. The beautiful lawn. The orchids on the wall of the lawn. The pencil art on the wall on either side of the large door. Everything was magical. The toilets....oh man. The toilets were so inviting, that if you decide to stay and sleep there, you would be forgiven.

The wooden stairs that I thought was leading to some magical place actually led to the master bedroom. It had two large beds. And equipment placed in a way that you can have a full meal on the bed. The table was built onto the bed and it just rolls over to you. After the little tour of the place, we came back to our table. Order was already placed and since it takes a while to paint the food, the tour happens.

Yes, I was talking about a restaurant. What did you think?

Welcome to Villa Maya. Its a villa and maya indeed! Food wasn't restricted by cuisine, but by passion to integrate ancient and modern. This can only be called the Villa Maya cuisine.

 

The dry beef with coconut and mango. Now, both were dry. The beef was dry and the mango and coconut were dry, but when you put them together in your mouth, juices just flow from nowhere. The fact that the waiters explain every dish before they arrive/as they arrive gives you an idea of what to expect and what to do to get the best. You had to eat the beef and the mango coconut together to experience this. Every dish that followed had some tradition to it. The beef was served in jackfruit leaves, which were used as spoons during ancient times. Nice touch.

This was followed by the Spice Box. Derived from spice box, this was a melange of kebabs with just a teeny-weeny hint of different spices in each of the kebabs. From the saunf laced chicken to the saffron laced fish to the mirchi kissed prawns to the cinnamon licked galouti kebabs, this was a spice journey without the spice overpowering the originality of the dish. The slightly dry galouti kebab was the only flaw in the entire meal.

Then came the painter's platter - a platter of paneer done three ways. With chutneys served in little paint bottles, this had the pineapple and mint chutneys (that were also there in the Spice box), but an excellent new chutney, the beetroot chutney. For a non-fan of paneer like me, I could eat that all my life. Soft and succulent, this was by far one of the best paneer I've had in my life.

Then the Puttu with prawns and coconut. Brilliant. The last part of the cooking is done on your table with the sawdust oven and the chef then pushes out the puttu onto your plate. While I was full, I could notice that the puttu was going in without my approval. Flavours were just right and the fish gravy served along with it was a stunner.

Wahtalappam, a Sri Lankan specialty for dessert was a fabulous way to finish the meal. While it was as good as the ones I've had in Sri Lanka, there was a twist here, the cinnamon cream. I thought the dish was a little sweet until I was told to eat it with the cream. Magically, it was balanced.

A lot of places claim that their food is an experience and I've written about some of those places, but not until today have I really experienced the real meaning of the food experience. All 5 senses were involved, there was no cuisine to limit the creativity and there was a touch of elegance, ancient-ness (if that is even a word), modernity and flavour in the perfect balance.

Reservations are recommended during weekends and during lunch and dinner times and they are open 11 am to 11 pm, so early dinner or lunch might be the best way if you don't have a reservation.

The master bedroom I was talking about? That is also a table that is apparently sold out very often. If you're lucky you can experience that sitting on the bed with your legs folded and the table coming to you after you have settled down, but I think I would still prefer the courtyard.

A meal for two costs about Rs. 2500 and for me, it was one of the best meal experiences thus far and it came from Trivandrum!

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I wasn't too excited about mBessy. 'What is new about another resto-bar in a small hotel?,' I thought. Its the fashion these days! Tie up with a hotel that has the required 21 rooms and start off a watering hole! Hmm! Friends insisted on going when they launched and me, though dead tired that day, tagged along! The entry was typical. And the familiarity ended there!

This was a real fine dine setting hiding behind that typical-bar-door. We were whisked away to the first floor though and apparently that's where the action is. The setting is beautiful and eclectic. Completely different from the classy looking ground floor, this was a beautiful resto-bar! While I was still recovering from the beautiful setting that I least expected, we were seated in a nice eight seater with a low table. We can go down for the main courses after we are done with drinks and starters, said Mugesh, their manager. I have known him from his days at Casa Picola and he was as surprised to see me there as I was to see him there! 

Starters and drinks were excellent. I can keep going on and on about the starters as they were simply excellent. The crumb fried prawns, a bunch of nice big prawns, dipped in a flavourful crumbs and fried till crisp, was the pick of the lot, though the others were almost as good! Prawns took the cake as they I love them in general and was happy to not have to leave the shell on the tail behind. It was all done and you had to keep eating them! The Broccoli with cheese was quite excellent with the soft broccoli being coated nicely with cheese and the bruschetta that came along with it was fantastic. The other starter, the spicy chicken skewers were quite nice and didn't stand a chance compared to the other two, but that's okay. The mezze platter was pretty nice with fluffy pita bread to go with the dips. The drinks were excellent from a teetotaller's POV. Some had theatrics like smoke coming out to flavour a drink, but the mocktails weren't too bad. My drink had smoked pop corn on top and in general things were great this far!

And then they sort of went downhill. Being a bunch of six of us, we tried quite a few dishes and really none of them stood apart. By this time we moved down to the fine-dine type place with its rich looking decor and cutlery. Sadly, the food did not live up or maybe the starters were so good that the palate didn't like the mains. Whatever the reason, the pizzas were blah. The Australian lamb felt like it was being handled without care and was rather dry and leathery. The risotto was very very blah. Stuffed chicken breast was rather inedible. Dessert was slightly redeeming. While certainly not excellent by any means, it sort of cooled off the rather bad main course. 

 But going by the quality of the starters, I guess, this place since being rather new has a lot of scope to catch up and get on track with the mains. While the choice of menu is good, it needs some work to get it to match the ambiance and the starters! 

I'll be going back in a month or so to see how things have changed. Do the mains get to appetiser quality or vice versa? Only time will tell.

mBessy is in the ground floor of the newly revampING, Estelle hotel in Adyar, near the Aavin, the first building on the Bessy road. 

Speechless.

My camera bag dropped on the floor.

It took me a while to understand what was going on. When a restaurant where you have some special memories has a makeover, it tends to surprise you and make it difficult to reconnect with the same place. For the first time, I wished this make over happened when special memories were being etched. From being a nice rustic restaurant at the secluded end of the beautiful Fisherman's Cove, this has evolved, no, turned overnight, into a chic, pretty bistro by the sea. With rocks right in front of you and the sound of music (the natural splashes of the waves, I mean) and the beautiful decor staring at you, this is some transformation. When Taj called us over to try out the new menu at the revamped Upper Deck, this is not what I was expecting.

No food photographer can do real justice to the ambiance, I guess. So I just took one shot and moved on to the food! We started off with a nice French Onion soup, but without the cheesy mess. This was a fine dine version of the cheesy soup, but one that was right on flavour, but it stood no chance against the other soup, the Roasted Tomato and Basil soup! This was excellent with the flavours of the roasted tomato searing through the palate and the basil just caressing the tongue on its way down.

Then four wonderful dishes to start off, the beet salad and the chicken liver pate. Both were excellent in presentation and flavours, the beet salad being super moist for a salad with the perfect home made vinaigrette dressing, while the chicken liver pate, for someone who is not an offal fan, made me take two helpings. The third being the seared Tuna salad, which with the rocket leaves and done medium rare, left us wanting more, but we had to save space for the rest of the courses. The, fourth, a leek pie was simply excellent. The pastry used for the pie was a killer and I'd die to get the recipe for that!! The filling was just right and the dish as a whole was loved by everyone on the table.

Then came the disappointment. The Risotto wasn't up to scratch for me. The rice didn't have that bite, though the flavours were just right. The previous courses set the standards so high, that the risotto didn't live up to it.The next was a chicken stuffed with four cheeses. While the chicken was a little dry for me, the dish itself was pretty good and the flavours were brilliant. A slightly moist chicken would have nailed it.

Then came a dish that set the standards higher. Grilled jumbo prawns (I'm salivating as I write this), with cheese, salad and tagliatelle. The prawns were grilled to perfection, were juicy and yummy and the pasta was just right for this. The desserts simply did not live up the standards of the other dishes! The tiramisu and the chocolate mousse and pie were just about alright, so nothing special here.

The prices have dropped significantly from the older menu and meal for two will cost about Rs. 2800 without alcohol. They also have a sundowner menu from 4-7 pm, which I didn't get a hang of.

More importantly, the revamp is so good that I'd like to recreate memories here again and we have already planned it!!! But if you are yet to pop the question or the ring, this might just be the place to do it! 

Places to host a little tea party are few and far apart. If there are, then you need to pick a fixed menu that varies between Rs. 400 and the sky and you get the same dish for everyone. Maybe okay for birthday party with 10-20 kids, but with three kids and 15 adults, my friend wasn't happy with a Rs. 650 plus tax for juice, soup, pizza/pasta and dessert type menu. Jonah's came to mind. I've been meaning to write about this place for a while, but never did. What stuck to my mind though was the little 16 seater part of the restaurant that is cut off from the rest and can be the right party place for a small crowd. And being a small place, a-la-carte would be great, we thought.

So after discussions, my friend decided to do it. We just blocked off the place for 16 people. Jonah's being Jonah's with their outstanding customer service that I wrote a few times about on social media, had absolutely no qualms about bringing a cake from outside. The kid's mom wanted a theme cake and Jonah's was super cool about it. Place was blocked and we had a blast. The ladies ensured that dishes that landed on their tables did not leave their tables!! The men though had to send what landed in our tables to the ladies. If not, there were glares!!!

I remember we ordering stuff left right and centre but these are the dishes that come to my mind!! Chilly fries - yum yum yum. We ordered almost three plates. Crab cakes - with six vegetarians and others not too fond of crab, just one portion was enough for the four of us who ate. The paneer with rice and gravy was yum!!! The fried calamari was equally yum.

At their Besant Nagar outlet, I had written about the really dry burger. Here it was juicy and nice. One interesting dish on the menu was the steak burger pizza. Its essentially the burger patty on the pizza for those who want to have the best of both worlds. I did not like it at all!!! There were lots more, but thats all I took photos of!!!

The bill for 15 adults and 3 kids was Rs. 9000 after a 15% discount that they offered for a group booking, which ended up being a steal for the amount and variety of food we had. Definitely better than the same soup starter pizza and a stale cake for Rs. 650 plus tax!!!! The minion cake was baked by Afsar's Magic Oven (9994088522)

Jonah's is on Kasthuri Rangan Road, the road next to the old Chola Sheraton, a few meters further down the Russian Culture Centre. 

Bistro. Patisserie. I love those two words under the name of any restaurant! Jonah's has been around for a few months and the only reason it took me so long to get there was the distance! Besant Nagar! Finally found a fellow foodie to drive! He he! Yay! The setting is very very nice. A combination of high chairs, private dining space and regular seating, the display of the patisserie is very inviting. My eyes fell on the escargot  and I told the waiter that I would like to have it for dessert! Yep, ordered dessert well before we got seated!

The menu was a typical continental menu but with a few new names. Bashed Potato! The description said something like 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.'  Our mouths started to water. We also placed order for another unique dish, some chicken wrapped in turkey bacon! We ordered a burger, (yeah, I know), a grilled chicken with a side and waited!

The first starter was a disappointment. Well, not taste wise, but description wise. What would you think when you read, 'Creamy mashed potatoes in a crispy baked potato skin.' Yeah, I thought of that too. But what we got was a bunch of roasted baby potatoes, smashed with string of creamy mayo. We called the waiter to ask if they mixed the order, but the PR manager came and said that they were going to change the description on the menu. I wish the waiter told us this WHILE we placed the order. We asked him to change the rice in the main course to mashed potato because our minds suddenly wanted a mashed potatoes.

The chicken wrapped in turkey ham was an awesome dish! The chicken was juicy and the slightly smoky flavour in the ham went well and I wished I could have had a few more. We were raving and raving, when our friend, sitting at home told us that the burger is dry there and not to order that. When we saw up, the burger had just arrived. It was dry. End of story! The other main course had a very good chicken, but the mashed potatoes were very grainy, tasted stale and felt like the store bought potato flour. The PR manager denied it and assured us that it was mashed in house, but there was something totally wrong with the mashed potatoes. We were told that they have issues with the types of potatoes they got, but we would have been happy if they said, 'yes, this serving on your plate is bad, can I replace it with fries or something else,' instead of giving us a lecture on what all affects the quality of the mashed potatoes!

The escargot that I ordered at the start arrived and it was fantastic. The cookie was nice and crisp while the chocolate on top was just right without being too sweet. We also had Belgian Waffle, which were not shaped or taste like Belgian waffles, but tasted very very good! Very airy and light and super soft! Went well with the caramel and maple syrup! Great way to end a meal!

Jonah's is in Besant Nagar and I believe is coming soon to Phoenix Mall! 

Burgers are storming Chennai! While fancy hotels are upping their burgers by a notch, like Park Hyatt, newer players are putting Hard Rock Cafe's Legendary burgers to shame! While a few places have made some noises in Facebook and Twitter, I had the chance to visit only Brick House Bistro a couple of days ago and slurp! That too because I had a scapegoat to drive. Yay!

Yeshwin, the brains behind BHB was associated with a start up pizza brand that saw a rapid growth, but one that did not sustain too long. I really hope he has learnt his lessons from that experience, because I would hate to see this wonderful place go down. Walking into this new bistro, I liked the stencil art of cooking greats like Heston and Marco Pierre White and the likes! Nice touch. The place is quite small and can seat about 30 I guess, but he has done the place up quite eclectically.

And now the food. Expectations were through the roof and I had been seeing photos of their burgers splashed all over the Chennai Food circle. I was waiting to be disappointed! But when the burger did arrive, it lived up to every review I read! Super juicy. Super tasty. No distractions. It was a simple well done beef patty burger. As simple as that. At a price of Rs 195 (without fries, add Rs. 60 for fries and salad), this was a winner all the way! Yep, the burger was good, but that should not take away anything from the hot dog! Slurp! Smoky and super soft and super flavourful, this was a nice hot dog! Lovely in every way. The king's club sandwich, which was very similar in taste to the hot dog did not catch my attention, but the other two were just mind blowing. Even if it was priced at twice the price, we don't think we would have thought any different.

Now the bad. The dessert. The Aunt Maria's Lemon Cheesecake, though wasn't awful, was pretty bad considering the standard of their main dishes. The base was so soggy that it was like a marie biscuit dipped in tea!

We paid Rs. 1450 for a double burger with fries and salad, a double hot dog, a king's club sandwich, two coffee shakes, a lemon cheesecake and a single burger takeaway for mummy! Tummy Khush.  Mummy Khush. Wallet also khush!

Brick House Bistro is located in Anna Nagar at No 9, S-Block, 6th Avenue, Anna Nagar East, Chennai